China Launches First Domestically Constructed Aircraft Carrier

China’s first home-built aircraft carrier awaits launch at a Dalian shipyard.

Beijing, 30 Rajab 1438/27 April 2017 (MINA) – China launched a 50,000-ton aircraft carrier on Wednesday, its second carrier after the Soviet-built Liaoning, which China purchased from Ukraine.

The 50,000-ton carrier — as yet named and known only as the Type 001A — was towed from the dockyard at the northern Yellow Sea port of Dalian, 200 miles west of North Korea, morningstaronline.co.uk reported.

Central Military Commission vice-chairman Fan Changlong, who is also on the Communist Party central committee, presided over the launch.

The Type 001A is the first such warship to be made entirely in China.

Its predecessor, the Soviet-built Liaoning, underwent an extensive refit at Dalian before being commissioned in 2012, the Defence Ministry said.

The new vessel will carry a complement of 24 Shenyang J-15 fighters — a copy of the Russian Sukhoi Su-33 that saw action in Syria recently — and 12 anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

The US operates 10 100,000- ton aircraft carriers and has 62 destroyers to China’s 32, along with 75 submarines to China’s 68. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)